Kia is looking to build its cred among the young, male, sports-viewing audience, so the company hired budding NBA superstar (if he isn’t already at that level) Blake Griffin to be its spokesperson. In his brief pro career, Griffin has displayed not only a knack for throwing down ridiculous dunks on the court, but also acting chops that are exceptionally rare to find among pro athletes. Griffin is legitimately funny on film.

In a new commercial for the 2013 Kia Optima, Griffin transports himself back to 1995, when he was just six years old. He meets his younger self, played by a cute kid who actually does look a lot like him. He then imparts a piece of basketball wisdom that’s clever and actually pretty self-deprecating:

In the second spot in the series, Griffin travels back to 1997 and tells little Blake to quit playing football–and ditch the jean shorts:

Whether any of this will make anyone want to buy a Kia is a question that remains to be answered (I wouldn’t bet on “yes,” especially since the time travel feature shown in the commercial probably doesn’t come standard on all new Optimas), but Griffin comes out of this looking pretty good.